Pandemic Cooking: Vietnamese Bánh Xèo

Vietnamese Bánh Xèo can be deceiving in that it looks like an omelette, but does not actually contain any egg!

It is more like a crepe made of mainly rice flour, and turmeric which gives it the nice golden color.
It is filled with pork and shrimp, a little bit of onion, and lots of bean sprouts.
It is served with lettuce, mint, cilantro, Vietnamese pickled daikon and carrot, and topped with nước mắm.

Bags of pre-mixed bánh xèo flour can be found at the Asian grocery stores.
The batter needs to be made a minimum of 3 hours in advance, to overnight.

To make batter for 4 crêpes, you need:

• 6 oz of bánh xèo flour
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 3/4 cup water
• 7 oz (or 1/2 can) coconut cream (or coconut milk)
• 1 scallion

Mix everything except green onion ahead of time and let sit for 3 hours to overnight.

Right before cooking, mince the scallion and add to the batter

For the filling, boil about 3/4 lb of pork belly then cut into strips.

Wash and clean shrimps and bean sprouts and set aside.

Thinly slice a small onion.

Stir fry the onion, pork belly and shrimp in a flat pan, then pour the batter over just like making an omelette.

Add the bean sprouts on top.

Cover and let cook at med-high heat for about 10 minutes until the crêpe becomes crispy.

Fold in half and serve immediately.

Waiting too long will cause the crêpe to no longer be crispy.